Universities plead for continued research funding

JEANNIE KEVER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE |
August 4, 2010

University leaders tried to convince members of a key legislative committee Wednesday that Texas higher education is a good investment, even as the state faces a huge budget shortfall.

"This is the minute in time for Texas to decide if it wants to move to the very top," Jeffrey Seemann, vice president for research at Texas A&M University, told members of the Senate Finance Committee during a hearing to consider how the state could attract more research funding.

None of the legislators disagreed with the goal. But they wondered what they are getting in exchange for state funding used to recruit faculty and build research infrastructure.

Fighting for a share

The state received 5.6 percent of that funding in 2007, the most recent data available, said Kevin Lemoine, deputy assistant commissioner at the coordinating board. That's up just slightly from 1998, when it received 5.3 percent.

New York, Massachusetts, California, Maryland and Pennsylvania each receive a bigger share, Lemoine said, noting that each of those states has a number of nationally known research universities.

Sympathetic, but . . .

In 2009, the Legislature approved measures to help the seven emerging research universities — UH, Texas Tech, the University of North Texas and UT campuses in Arlington, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio - reach similar status.

Representatives of several of the schools urged committee members to continue funding the effort, even in the face of a budget shortfall that may reach $18 billion before the Legislature meets next year.

Legislators were sympathetic, but several said they want tangible results.

Seeking answers

Their questions include: how much time research faculty spend with undergraduates, whether more nationally ranked research universities would retain at least some of the 11,000 Texas students who attend college out of state, and what economic return the state gets from research conducted at its public universities.

Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan and chairman of the finance committee, said he's unaware of any way to quantify the value of research, although he suggested worries that tuition money is subsidizing faculty research are probably unfounded.

Tuition covers only about 25 percent of the cost of a public university education, he said.